Rachel Homan served notice she won’t be easy to knock off her perch as the reigning queen of Canadian women’s curling.

The Ottawa native opened defence of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with an 8-3 win over Manitoba’s Chelsea Carey on Saturday night.

Jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Homan got a brief argument from the Manitoba skip before ending the discussion with four points in the eighth end, leading to an early shaking of hands.

“The team played really, really well in front of me, Homan said. “It was 4-3 right to the end, and just one big end ended it. My team just really had it. They made my job easy.”

The 24-year-old defending champ will play Ontario and Quebec on Sunday.

Alberta’s Val Sweeting survived a morning scare against the Yukon to win two games, and sits atop the standings with Newfoundland at 2-0.

Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton, the popular pick as Homan’s top threat, opened with an 8-6 win over Scotties first-timer Allison Flaxey of Ontario.

Homan acknowledged she has come a long way since her first trip to the Scotties, three years ago.

“Some of the things we’ve gone through as a team builds character and you see things a little bit differently,” she said. “You can just enjoy it a little bit more, now. There’s a lot pressure in the beginning to make that breakthrough.”

Not that she’s easing her foot off of the gas pedal.

She wouldn’t know how.

And after coming up short in the Olympic Trials, she seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder this week, out to prove last year’s Scotties win wasn’t a one-shot deal.

“There’s still a lot of pressure, and I don’t want to let up at all,” Homan said. “It’s that much more important for us to win this year. I want to challenge our team and see how well we can play this week.”

Saturday’s first draw nearly produced a major upset.

The Yukon’s Sarah Koltun, at 20 one of the youngest skips in Scotties history, held leads of 4-1 and 5-3 over Sweeting, before the Alberta skip dodged the bullet with a steal of three in the ninth to win, 7-5.

“I just wanted out of that game,” a relieved Sweeting said. “They definitely played better than us for the majority of that game. We knew we couldn’t take them lightly going in. It’s their first time here. They have nothing to lose.”

Koltun and her teammates, fresh off the Canadian junior championship, didn’t play like the greenest group in the field, and had the crowd on their side.

“After being in so many juniors, I feel like I’ve done this so many times,” she said. “We definitely were in control from the beginning. Just that one bad end. But it’s our first game at our first Scotties. We’ll just take what we can from it.”

Koltun isn’t the only young gun trying to establish herself in her first national women’s championship.

B.C.’s Kesa Van Osch, 22, opened her Scotties career with a 7-4 win over P.E.I. veteran Kim Dolan, and sits at 1-1.

Van Osch seemed more terrified of the post-game interviews than the stress on the ice.

“We got a little nervous in the last end,” she said, acknowledging she’s just happy to be here. “We don’t have any expectations.”